Dear list,
finally I got the preface of the mentioned facsimile edited by our friend
Markus Lutz for the german lute society.
Markus presents to us an interesting manuscript which contains a large
amount of music from the galant time, many of them anonymus. Among the
named composers we find S.L. Weiss, Weichenberger, Jaques Gallot the elder
("L'Amant Malheureux"), Kellner, Lichtensteiger (the one from whom the
legend sais Weiss would not have been able to get his post at the hassian
court), G.F.Händel, Losy and Pichler.
The edition comes in a slightly different size than the original and is
spiral bound. Most of the handwriting of the 20 suites and several single
movements is easy legible. In my copy no corrections or addititon were made
(for example if the music is hard to read or to make a hint to a mistake).
The preface tells us on 22 pages details about the manuscript and gives
concordances: It belonged to Luise von Würtemberg who took it with her due
to her marriage with Friedrich von Mecklenburg in 1746. Most of the music
could have been compiled in Würtemberg, possibly by some of the lutenists
at the Stuttgart court. After Luise's death her music came to Rostock where
it is up to now. I think the preface is just available in german.
I also found it a pity that the incipits are given without graces. I think
graces are important parts of the music and stylistical features and don't
understand why this feature is omitted.
The music in this manuscript is all for 11-course lute in d-minor tuning.
Just one suite uses the "tone mercure" with the 6th course of the baroque
lute tuned to Bb. As probably already suspected by the name of the
composers the quality of the music within this manuscript is on the higher
level (you'll find the Haendel-Gavotte soon as an example on my homepage. I
just need to find time to record it for you). In most of the cases the
technical difficulty is moderate and even some very easy pieces can be
found. So this collection also makes good teaching material.
The german lute society continues their work on the music in the Rostock
library and finally made a valuable edition of rare previously unpublished
material worth to be played more often. Markus Lutz deserves our thanks for
doing the effort.
I haven't found a price or a possibility to order it online from the german
lute society, so the only information I can give is taken from
lautengesellschaft.de
Deutsche Lautengesellschaft e.V.
c/o Seicento Notenversand
Holbeinstraße 12
D-79312 Emmendingen.
Tel.: *49 - (0) 76 41 - 93 28 03
FAX: *49 - (0) 76 41 - 93 28 04.
Best wishes
Thomas
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